Monday, November 02, 2009

When I first arrived in Qatar I could never dream that the population of Qatar would reach over one and a half million.

Yet according to the Gulf Times it now stands at 1.67 million, a 3% increase over the previous month.

Looking back at our old blog posts, I can see that I reported that the population of Qatar had been estimated at 400,000 in 2004.

When I joined this blog, I remember working with another writer to estimate that at the then current rate of growth Qatar would overtake the world's population in about 100 years.

Good for Business - and Websites

Back then no-one really read us - I remember being very pleased when we had 30 people visit the blog in one day.

Now we get 500 people to the blog - and often well over 3000 visitors and 6000 page views on the website - on a daily basis.

A major part of the reason for our success, and the success of Qatar Living, has been the phenomonal growth of Qatar.

More people means more readers for our posts, and more customers for businesses and shops.

It's also great for job seekers all over the world - there is at least one place which is still hiring!

Bad for Everyone Else

I also remember being able to drive to work in ten minutes.

And having a wage which is worth, in real terms, probably twice what it is today.

Meanwhile, the rapid growth in population is a logistical nightmare for hospitals and services.

Huge money is being poured into Hamed Hospital, and my son's life was saved by some first rate doctors in the children's hospital.

But it can't be easy dealing with a quadrupling of the population...

What about Qataris?

People in the UK feel threatened by immigration, although the influx is a fraction of that in Qatar.

Qataris could not be blamed for feeling swamped by the massive amount of people coming into the country.

As a result, tensions can and do arise - although despite some evident racism (not just from Qataris!), to the country's credit I have never seen anything approaching the British Nationalist Party party in the UK.